Everyone thought that Qiao Xi had admitted it, and Xia Tong’s face was filled with pride. “I don’t want to waste everyone’s time either. As long as you apologize to me and draw a new design, I’ll forgive you! We’ll pretend that this didn’t happen and re-record it.”
Xia Tong immediately swallowed the words in her mouth. Just as she was about to retort, an angry voice came from backstage. “I don’t agree!”
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw a man in a silver-gray suit walking out of the darkness. The critic who had been bribed by Xia Tong was about to berate him, but he was stunned when he saw the man’s face. “Mister… Mr. Lu?”
The man’s icy-cold gaze swept past everyone before finally looking at Qiao Xi, and then there was a trace of gentleness in his eyes.
Everyone present was familiar with this face. It often appeared on the covers of major fashion magazines. He could be said to be the prince of the fashion world—Lu Zhi, the president of Liuli Corporation.
“It’s Lu Zhi! He’s even more handsome in real life than on the cover of a magazine!”
“Lu Zhi was once a designer too. He should hate plagiarism! Moreover, Miss Xia only asked that designer to apologize. She didn’t ask for anything else. Why wouldn’t he agree?”
The judge did not dare to offend Lu Zhi and smiled obsequiously. “Mr. Lu, you probably don’t know yet that this designer plagiarized Miss Xia’s work. Now, Miss Xia is just asking the designer to apologize. You’re here today…”
“Why should she apologize?” Lu Zhi interrupted the other party mercilessly. He did not take the judge in front of him seriously at all and looked at Xia Tong coldly.
“You said that you designed this gown?” Lu Zhi questioned.
Seeing Lu Zhi’s deep eyes staring at her, Xia Tong instantly blushed shyly. “Yes… I did.”
She thought that Lu Zhi would praise her, but the next second, Lu Zhi suddenly sneered. “How did the design of Liuli’s chief designer, Gu Shan, from half a year ago become Miss Xia’s work? Miss Xia, why don’t you think about it carefully? Is your identity worthy of this design?”
Qiao Xi lazily crossed her arms and slowly curled the corners of her lips. She did not have any evidence to prove her innocence, but so what? As long as Lu Zhi appeared, who would doubt his words?
Xia Tong’s expression froze. The shyness and joy in her heart instantly vanished. She felt as if she had been struck by lightning. What did Lu Zhi mean? What did this have to do with Gu Shan?
When her manager, Chen Li, heard the name Gu Shan, her entire body could not help but tremble. She looked at Qiao Xi in disbelief and wished for nothing more than to bore a hole through her.
The audience also reacted and exclaimed, “So this design is Gu Shan’s work! In other words, Xia Tong first copied Gu Shan’s work, then Designer Qiao copied Xia Tong’s work?”
“Xia Tong is also a plagiarist! What right does she have to criticize others?”
Xia Tong gulped in horror and said in a dry voice, “Mr. Lu, this must be a misunderstanding. I didn’t…”
Lu Zhi did not want to talk nonsense with her. He instructed the staff member to play a video. In the video, a slim woman was sitting in front of Lu Zhi with her back facing the surveillance cameras.
“I’m finally done, but I still feel that something is wrong.”
Lu Zhi took the design and looked at it carefully. He smiled and said, “It’s already very good! Aren’t you asking too much of yourself?”
“Then I’ll keep it for now. Maybe I can use it one day.”
The video showed the design. It was exactly the same as Xia Tong’s. Instantly, the entire venue was silent.
“Let me explain to everyone. The woman in the video is Gu Shan and also my good friend. Miss Xia copied Gu Shan’s work.” Lu Zhi’s lips curled into a mocking smile.
The audience stood up one after another. The judges also looked at Xia Tong in disbelief. Even if she wanted to plagiarize, she could not plagiarize Gu Shan’s work! Was she courting death?
After a moment of silence, a fan roared crazily, “Xia Tong! Didn’t you say that you designed it yourself? How could you lie to us?”
“You actually dare to steal Gu Shan’s design? Do you think what you stole is yours? Do you think you’re better than Gu Shan? You really overestimate yourself!”
“No!” Xia Tong shouted in a panic. The blood in her body seemed to have frozen. She looked at the people around her. Everyone’s eyes were filled with disdain and disgust. She had never been so embarrassed.
